Area Attractions

Nowhere else in Arizona will you experience the wide range of activities available in our area. Pre-Columbian Sinaguan sites, officer's quarters at a cavalry fort, a train excursion along the Verde River Canyon, a cowboy dinner show and a night at the casino can all be experienced in a single day.

The following links are provided as a convenience only; they are not a recommendation of any product, service, or organization. Arizona State Parks maintains this list at its own discretion. Links will open in a new window and leave the Arizona State Parks website.

Jerome, sometimes nicknamed "The City in the Sky" was at one time the most talked about mining camp in America. Explore the Douglas Mansion at Jerome State Historic Parkwhich explains the mining history of the area. The Gold King Mine displays early machinery of the mining era in Jerome. The Clemenceau Museum in Cottonwood also contains many artifacts from the mining era, as well as a model railroader's dream come true—a scale recreation of the heyday of the rails in the Verde Valley.

For the shopper, many unique shops and galleries featuring art, antiques, jewelry, pottery and many additional items may be found in the Historic Old Town Cottonwood District, or in Clarkdale, Camp Verde, Jerome or Sedona.

Dozens of shared-use trails have been identified for hiking enthusiasts, in the Oak Creek Canyon and West Sedona areas. Still more are listed for the Cottonwood region. Magnificent views of Sedona's famous Red Rock country, and the forests and canyons of Mingus Mountain await the hiker. Dead Horse Ranch State Park makes a perfect base camp for mountain bikers, with the nearby trails in Sedona offering world class riding. Only a few miles from the park is the 21-mile Mingus Mountain Downhill, a popular shuttle run for mountain bikers. And Mingus Mountain is an excellent launch point for hang gliding enthusiasts!

The avid golfer will appreciate outstanding golf courses located in Sedona, the Village of Oak Creek, Lake Montezuma and Cottonwood.

The family may cool off after exploring the Sedona area at Slide Rock State Park which contains one of Oak Creek Canyon's most exciting features: a thirty-foot water slide worn in the rocks winding through the cool creek bed providing visitors a natural outdoor thrill.

At the end of the day, there are many restaurants in Cottonwood awaiting your dining pleasure. If you'd rather not eat out, Cottonwood has three supermarkets, a Wal-Mart Supercenter, and a natural foods store.

Tuzigoot National Monument
Crowning a desert hilltop is an ancient pueblo. From a rooftop a child scans the desert landscape for the arrival of traders, who are due any day now. What riches will they bring? What stories will they tell? Will all of them return? From the top of the Tuzigoot Pueblo it is easy to imagine such an important moment. Tuzigoot is an ancient village or pueblo built by a culture known as the Sinagua. The pueblo consisted of 110 rooms including second and third story structures. The first buildings were built around A.D. 1000. The Sinagua were agriculturalists with trade connections that spanned hundreds of miles. The people left the area around 1400. The site is currently comprised of 42 acres.

Montezuma Castle National Monument
Gaze through the windows of the past into one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. This 20 room high-rise apartment, nestled into a towering limestone cliff, tells a 1,000 year-old story of ingenuity and survival in an unforgiving desert landscape. Marveling at this enduring legacy of the Sinagua culture reveals a people surprisingly similar to ourselves.

Park and Facility Hours

The park is open year-round.

Gates close at dark. Seasonal hours may apply.

Day Use

8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. daily

Visitor Center/Park Store

8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. daily

Park Entrance Fee

Per vehicle (1-4 Adults): $7.00
Individual/bicycle: $3.00

About Dead Horse Ranch State Park

The story of the park's name begins with the Ireys family, who came to Arizona from Minnesota looking for a ranch to buy in the late 1940s. At one of the ranches they discovered a large dead horse lying by the road. After two days of viewing ranches, Dad Ireys asked the kids which ranch they liked the best. The kids said, “the one with the dead horse, dad!” The Ireys family chose the name Dead Horse Ranch and later, in 1973, when Arizona State Parks acquired the park, the Ireys made retaining the name a condition of sale.